We found this tortoise on San Filipe, can we bring it to you? 

Is it a turtle or a tortoise? (Volunteer is thinking, some of Texas’ tortoises are endangered – it’s probably just a Red-eared Slider)

It’s a tortoise.

Is it a baby?

No

Is it injured?

No

Well, we only care for sick, injured of orphaned wild animals here at the Wildlife Center, just move it to a nearby safe spot and let it go.

There isn’t a safe spot – this is SAN FILIPE! Like, six lanes plus a suicide lane!

OK, bring it to the Wildlife Center and we’ll see what can be done. Just put it in your car and bring it to us.

You don’t understand, I have someone sitting on it to keep it from walking away and it is STILL walking away! I don’t think I can lift it. (Volunteer feels like they’ve stepped into the Twilight Zone)

Can you and the person that is sitting on it lift it?

It’s pretty big.  Well, maybe if I fold down the seat it will fit. (Cue the theme music for the Twilight Zone)

A couple of volunteers are asked to help bring the tortoise inside. It is so big that if placed in a normal sized bathtub it would take up two-thirds of the length and could not turn around. And this bad boy weighs about 45 pounds! One volunteer takes a look and says “Oh that’s an African Spurred Thigh Tortoise, it is native to the Sahara desert, it is the largest species that doesn’t live on an island and can live to be 50 – 60 years old.” SAY WHAT?? And how did you know all that?

What will become of it? Hopefully the owners will come forward to claim it. There are very distinctive markings that the attached picture doesn’t reveal. All escapes can’t be prevented, the yard guy left the gate open or the animal became big enough or motivated enough to go over or under the fence.

P.S. The boy’s name is Sherman (sorry, couldn’t tell you the sex as it was part of the proof of ownership) and he has been successfully reunited with his family. Someone outside the family left the gate open.

With the help of Dr. Ray Telfair banding and marking began in 2003.  Additional research is being conducted by Dr. Heatley from Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine.  She is using small blood samples collected from healthy birds to determine normal electrolytes and other blood parameters in these herons.  Thus when ill or injured herons are, these values will help rehabilitators, veterinarians and biologists determine appropriate treatment and to diagnose diseases or toxicoses.   

Before the banding began, Sharon had started to apply hacking techniques used with raptors with the herons.  This allowed the birds to transition from a captive state to living without her assistance.  When the birds are ready to go, the team bands them with a USFWS number specific aluminum band.  In order to track observations of the birds, a nylon flag is also placed with the band above the bird’s wrist (what we think of as their knees).  The bands are typically aluminum gray but the flags have a color code so that the team can determine what year it was banded when observations are reported.

Woody Woodrow and Faith Weeks a WR&E volunteer help Sharon Schmalz, Director of WR&E band the Yellow Crowned Night Herons that were prepared for release in her 60 foot flight cage. Each year between 25 and 45 Yellow-crowned Night Herons that have been rehabilitated by WR&E are banded and released. Fish are set out each evening until the herons are self-sufficient. It is smelly but rewarding work.

If you see a banded or flagged bird, please notify the Bird Banding Laboratory in Patuxent, Maryland.  Their number is 1 (800) 327-BAND.  You can also go to their website and report it online at:  http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bbl/   You can also contact Woody Woodrow at woody_woodrow@fws.gov or by calling  (281) 286-8282.

Finding banded birds is very  uncommon.  Only about 1% of banded birds are recovered.  There are situations however where banded birds are recovered more frequently than normal. WR&E Oiled Wildlife Response members have found birds that they had rescued from a previous oil spill during another oil spill years later.  Woody and Sharon have observed banded herons banded several years prior to the sighting. The Wildlife Center was excited when a banded Peregrine Falcon was brought in for treatment. Tracing the band we discovered that “Samson” was the male of a pair of Peregrine Falcons that had were web-celebrities. His story is detailed in this newsletter.

Recovery of banded birds has provided astonishing information.  An Arctic Tern banded as a chick in England made it to Melbourne, Australia three months later and over 14,000 miles.  The Manx Shearwater banded as an adult about five years old was recaptured 50 years later and is the oldest known wild bird.  A banded mourning dove was recovered 31 years later and it is the 10th oldest banded bird for the US.  The oldest record for the yellow-crowned night heron is 6 years and 3 months for a bird in Mexico that had been shot, so they can live longer than that.  Hopefully, our team will beat that record!

 With the exception of rehabilitated birds, researchers must go into the field and either trap/snare birds or band birds before they fledge. Banding birds that are near fledging age is possible because the leg diameter doesn’t change much, in some species the leg diameter actually decreases with maturity. Banding herons in a rookery  is a messy job as Mike Rowe of “Dirty Jobs” found out when he accompanied researchers to “Vomit Island” (an island in Lake Erie). Apparently, when herons feel threatened they will regurgitate half digested fish onto the offending party. Yuck!  At WRE, we band before dinner.

Precocial species like Killdeer, chickens and ducks are mobile and self-feeding shortly after hatching. They require mom’s protection and guidance to find good sources of food. They will hang together as a group until the young are flying well. Then the group will disperse.

Raptors, especially the larger owls have an additional development phase called branchling that occurs between nestling and fledgling. Branchling babies can’t really fly yet, but they leave the nest and spread out along the nearby branches. They continue to be fed by the parents and strengthen their wings by vigorous flapping. They begin to experiment with flight by jumping and fluttering between branches.

The eating habits aren’t the only slightly odd habit. Mississippi Kites migrate long distances to and from central South America in a groups of 20 – 30 individuals. They also nest near each other as a group. Mississippi Kite arrive at the nesting site as mated pairs. Many raptors don’t migrate and those that do usually don’t do so as a flock.

The Mississippi Kite isn’t a well known raptor. People that see them often mistake them for other birds because the Kite’s gray coloring is so different from other more well known raptors. The head and back are a beautiful pearl gray which darkens along the sides and out the wings. The wings are unusually long (up to three feet) and narrow. The undersides of the wings are a lighter gray. The tail is long and a very dark gray or black. Juveniles have dark brown mottling or stripes and dark brown banding on the tail. This group of juveniles look much like more “traditional” raptors because of their brown markings. They have been released from the large flight cage, but are returning for back-up food. While hunting is instinctual, it takes time to become good at it. So, WR&E release sites always provide back-up food until the released birds no longer return.

This baby Kite is a very late baby. Most nesting is done in the early spring so the offspring have fledged and are ready to migrate to South America early in September. There are several explanations for this late baby. There are reports of isolated populations that don’t migrate, so a late baby wouldn’t be as big of an issue. The first clutch could have been lost and the pair bred a second time.  The final explanation is that the female wasn’t quite old enough for breeding and because of this inexperience allowed a late clutch to be born. Mississippi Kite have a lower clutch survival rate than other raptors. Part of the lower survival rate is that the Kite constructs a flimsy nest which is usually a rehabilitated squirrel nest. The other issue is that Great Horned Owls think Kite babies taste really good. Interesting, urban Kites have a higher survival rate than rural cousins.

The short answer is no. There are three major categories of white animals. The first is genetically white – white tigers receive a recessive white allele from each parent. If two white tigers mate, then all the offspring will be white. A heterozygous normal phenotype mated with a white phenotype would yield half normal and half white. Genetically white animals are usually a true white; dark stripes, rings or masks usually appear the same color (sometimes diluted) as found in the normal phenotype. The eyes are the normal color.

Albinism occurs when melanin is not produced by melanocytes. Melanin is the pigment that colors our skin. Sunlight stimulates its production. The melanin provides protection from UV damage. This protection extends to the eyes. Without melanin to protect them, eyes suffer from many issues including photosensitivity.

Albinism is easily identified by the striking red eyes. Eyes appear red or pink because without melanin in the iris, the capillaries inside the eye show through. Even animals that have genetically blue eyes will have a pink cast because the melanin helps provide opacity. The coat color will be a creamy white to pale yellow – the color isn’t a true white. Dark markings will be expressed as gray or pale tan. Most animals express as completely albino, but there are cases when only certain parts of the body are affected.

Many believe that albinism is a freak occurrence. However, albinism is actually genetic. It is a recessive trait that can be inherited. Most types strike males and females equally, but there is one type that is X-linked. The melanocytes are normal, but the body either doesn’t produce a necessary enzyme or produces a defective enzyme. Therefore, the chemical reaction necessary to produce melanin cannot occur.

Many believe that albino animals are not successful in the wild because they lack protective coloration. While this may be true for prey animals, it doesn’t explain the same phenomenon in predators like raccoon and raptors. The answer may lie in the extreme eye problems suffered by these individuals. In addition to focusing problems, albinos sometimes suffer from spasmodic stuttering. In addition, individuals suffer from extreme photosensitivity. Light cannot be regulated by pupil size since no matter how small the pupil becomes, light penetrates the colorless iris. The individual may not see well enough to evade predators or hunt for itself.

The last cause of white animals involves defective pigment producing cells. It affects all pigment producing cells, not just the melanin producing cells. Either the cells fail to develop or the cell for whatever reason does not deposit pigment. Leucism is a genetic mutation. The defective cells may cover the whole body or they may occur in patches. Piebald animals express patches of normal coloration among a background of white. Selective breeding produces sufficient numbers of leucistic individuals to breed for the trait. Partially leucistic breeds are common in dogs, cats and horses.

Because all pigment producing cells are affected, leucism produces fur and feathers that are more of a true white. Dark markings reveal themselves as either pale shadows or not at all. Interestingly, the eye color is normally pigmented. The reason is that the cells that give rise to the iris are different in origin from those that form fur and feathers.

It is easy to determine if an animal is an albino because of the red eyes. The determination of genetically white versus leucistic is a little more difficult since produce normal colored eyes and true white coat / feathers. Since genetic testing is usually prohibitive, the deciding factor may be the frequency of expression. Leucism is a genetic mutation while genetically white expression is a recessive gene. Piebald individuals may be partial expression of leucism, but some genes also create a piebald appearance. In the absence of genetic testing, only extensive breeding across several generations will give a definitive determination of cause.

An interesting fact – it is actually difficult to get a skunk to spray. They hoard their chemical weapon since they only have four or five sprays at a time and it takes ten days to make more. The big caveat is “unless they are startled”. Skunks are very nearsighted (and a little cross-eyed in appearance) and you have to be dangerously close for them to see you. Given the opportunity to flee they will, however there isn’t a self-respecting dog that won’t make a wild dash to see what smells so “wonderful”. Dogs don’t seem to learn their lesson either. Other wild animals give it wide berth.

The skunk, in my humble opinion is the most beautiful and interesting wild animal to rehabilitate, Raccoon babies are just plain cute and they are my first love, but the cross-eyed, pidgin -toed skunk has the most exquisitely thick and lustrous coat. They aren’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but thanks to their defense mechanism, they don’t have to be. Like the raccoon, the idiosyncratic behaviors emerge shortly after the eyes open. While young enough to still be nursing, the babies will stomp their front feet, flip their south end to you and flip their tail over their back and assume “the position”. They aren’t really spraying at this age, but you don’t want to be in a closed room with them too long either. Like raccoons, skunks must be rehabilitated off-site. The Wildlife Center accepts ALL injured, sick or orphaned Texas native wild animals, however some animals like raccoon, skunk, bat and deer must be rehabilitated at the homes of state and federally permitted rehabilitators.

Thanks in part to Pepe Le Pew, when asked to describe a skunk most people will mention “the bomb” and “the stripe”. While they all have “the bomb”, some have a single white stripe, others have two white stripes and still others have broken stripes and spots. The black and white color scheme isn’t a given either. Skunks can range to brown or gray to cream. Around here, this is unusual though. Skunks are born with their stripe, unlike raccoon who can be born with only a hint of mask and ringed tail.

Thought by many to be nocturnal, they are actually crepuscular (most active at dawn and dusk). However, if they feel safe, they will boldly venture out during the day also. Like raccoon and opossum they will eat almost anything that doesn’t eat them first. They have an interesting taste for honey bees – not the honey, the bees themselves. Adults have been seen teaching their young to scratch on the hive just enough to get the bees stirred up and then eat the bees as they emerge. Adults are the size of a small house cat – with really short legs. Once mature, the skunk’s life is largely solitary. In bitterly cold weather, they may den together for mutual warmth. Females and that year’s litter will den in one and the males in another. Like raccoons, babies remain near mom until the spring when she goes into season again. The lifespan of a skunk isn’t very long, like the opossum it is usually only three or four years. In captivity they can live eight to ten years.

Skunks are terrestrial in nature and use their long front claws to excavate dens and dig up juicy grubs for dinner. They will also den dark tight places, like under the porch or garden shed or behind bales of hay. If you find one living in an inconvenient location, the same techniques used to get raccoons to move out of attics will work for skunks. See the articles under the “Need Help?” tab for ideas.

There are many recipes for the removal of skunk spray, but most don’t work, despite what your grandmother says. Only one recipe for skunk odor removal has been “confirmed” by Mythbusters (a chemist published it in 1993). Mix and use immediately, it will not keep. In fact, if stored in a tightly sealed container it could explode.

one quart of 3% hydrogen peroxide

one quarter cup of baking soda

one teaspoon of liquid hand soap (not detergent)

Saturate affected area and work it well into the fabric/coat/skin. Rinse with warm water and repeat as necessary.

Charley Harper is my favorite wildlife artist, considered a “modern minimalist” he captured the essence and humor of his subjects with simple geometric shapes. Each artwork has a paragraph or two about what inspired the image. Often the image showed the conflict between two species – the Mockingbird plucking hair from a cat that got too close to the nest or the squirrel raiding the birdfeeder. With respect to the skunk he wrote “Skunks have THE BOMB. Long ago they won the animal arms race glands down. Now they walk among us in peace, using their terrible weapon only as a deterrent.” Hiding in the woodpile, eyes shining in the night are the raccoons who are respectfully waiting for the skunk eat its fill. There isn’t much that can get between a raccoon and dinner…but the skunk is one.

Nighthawks belong to the Nightjar family which includes Whip-poor-will and Chuck-will’s-widow. The family is called  Caprimulgidae from the Latin caper which means goat and mulgeo to milk or suck.  There is a legend that these birds sucked milk from goat in the night but they actually were feeding on flying insects stirred up by the goats.  Another legend has them sucking the blood of goats. Biting insects attack the goats causing them to bleed. The innocent Nighthawks were eating the insects preying on the goats.

Common Nighthawk eat and drink “on the wing”, which means that they snatch insects in flight and skim calm lakes and creeks for water. The tiny beak belies the astounding gape of these birds. Unlike many birds that eat on the wing and use the beak to manipulate the prey before swallowing, the Nighthawk simply sweeps the air like a butterfly net scooping up everything in its path.

Considered to be strictly ground nesters, the flat gravel covered roofs provide uniquely predator proof nesting sites. In the “wild” these birds rest on the ground where they blend perfectly into the leaf-litter. When startled, they bounce relatively short distances and try to hide again.

Like the Whale Shark, which is neither a shark or a whale, the Nighthawk doesn’t exclusively feed at night, nor is it a hawk. Yet, the Wildlife Center receives many “hawks” each year that turn out to be Common Nighthawks. The coloration reminds one of hawks and owls, but the tiny pointed beak and unusually small feet are definitely not like a raptor’s. They are the crepuscular equivalent to swallows and swifts.

The male’s mating acrobatics are unique in that steep dives culminate in a loud booming sound as it soars up again. The Common Nighthawk migrates tremendous distances, some travel from northern Ontario to central Argentina. The Houston area hosts several different species from this family as they migrate through in the spring and the fall.  The species that nests here is the Common Nighthawk.

The landowner dug a trench to create an artificial den. At the uphill end of the trench, he placed a five-gallon bucket. To the cap of the bucket, he connected  a “tunnel” of metal dryer vent. Then everything except the entrance was buried. A low fence was erected to guide the armadillo to the nearby pond. Back-up food was provided. The armadillo had been busy digging around the enclosure, so the fence was removed.

The landowner dug up the den one week later check on the health and well-being of the brothers. He discovered that two of the three armadillo was still calling it home. It is thought that the largest of the three was probably foraging nearby or had struck out on his own. It is expected that the remaining two will eventually abandon the artificial den, but it will be there in case they need a place to hide. What a perfect release! It makes all of the work worthwhile.